Israel-Gaza updates: Nasser Hospital no longer 'functional,' WHO chief says
Israel Defense Forces turned the hospital into military barracks.
More than four months since Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, the Israeli military continues its bombardment of the neighboring Gaza Strip.
The conflict, now the deadliest between the warring sides since Israel's founding in 1948, shows no signs of letting up soon and the brief cease-fire that allowed for over 100 hostages to be freed from Gaza remains a distant memory.
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What we know about the conflict
The latest outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that governs the Gaza Strip, has passed the four-month mark.
In the Gaza Strip, at least 30,228 people have been killed and 71,377 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.
In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
There has also been a surge in violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Israeli forces have killed at least 395 people in the territory since Oct. 7, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The ongoing war began after Hamas-led militants launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel from neighboring Gaza via land, sea and air. Scores of people were killed while more than 200 others were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. The Israeli military subsequently launched retaliatory airstrikes followed by a ground invasion of Gaza, a 140-square-mile territory where more than 2 million Palestinians have lived under a blockade imposed by Israel and supported by Egypt since Hamas came to power in 2007. Gaza, unlike Israel, has no air raid sirens or bomb shelters.
Gaza's Nasser Hospital no longer 'functional,' WHO chief says
Nasser Hospital "is not functional anymore" after Israeli forces raided the facility in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday, the head of the World Health Organization said.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the U.N. health agency, said a WHO team was not allowed to enter the facility in the city of Khan Younis on Friday or Saturday "to assess the conditions of the patients and critical medical needs, despite reaching the hospital compound to deliver fuel alongside partners."
There are still about 200 patients in the hospital, including 20 who need urgent referrals to other hospitals, the WHO chief said in a statement on X.
Israel says it has apprehended about 100 suspected terrorists in the hospital, including 20 who it says participated in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack. The military says it is looking for the remains of hostages inside the facility and does not target doctors or patients.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said a large number of medical staff were arrested by the Israel Defense Forces that turned the facility into military barracks. The facility is Gaza's largest remaining operating hospital and the strip's second-largest hospital.
-ABC News' Edward Szekeres
100 people arrested at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis
A large number of Nasser Hospital medical staff were arrested by the Israel Defense Forces, which turned the facility into military barracks, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The IDF said it apprehended 100 people "suspected of terrorist activity" in the hospital so far.
-ABC News' Emma Ogao and Yael Benaya
Hamas says it will not accept deal without the war ending
As the death toll continues to rise, Hamas reiterated on Saturday that it will not accept an agreement with Israel without an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops, the terror group said in a statement.
"The resistance will not accept anything less than a complete cessation of aggression, the withdrawal of the occupation army from the Gaza Strip, the lifting of the unjust siege, the provision of safe and appropriate shelter for the displaced and those made homeless because of the occupation’s crimes, the return of the displaced, especially to the north of the Gaza Strip, an end to the barbaric starvation policy, and a commitment to reconstruction, all of which are humanitarian requirements and the subject of consensus among the United Nations, human rights institutions and the decision of the International Court of Justice, and the occupation must comply with them," the group's political head Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement.
-ABC News' Ayat Al-Tawy
Biden says his 'expectation' is Israel will not move forward with Rafah invasion
President Joe Biden said it is his "expectation" that Israel will not move forward with "any massive land invasion" in Rafah in southern Gaza as the Israelis work to get a temporary cease-fire in place to release the remaining hostages.
Biden was asked if Israel had presented a credible evacuation plan for the displaced Palestinians sheltering in Rafah. But the president’s response focused on continued efforts around a hostage deal, saying he's made it clear to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in their conversations in recent days that the U.S. feels strongly that a temporary cease-fire must happen.
"I'm still hopeful that that can be done,” Biden said. “And in the meantime, I don't anticipate -- I'm hoping that the Israelis will not make any massive land invasion in the meantime. So, it's my expectation that's not going to happen. There has to be a cease-fire temporarily to get those hostages.”
"This is not just Israelis -- it's American hostages, as well,” Biden said. “My hope and expectation is that we'll get this hostage deal, we’ll bring the Americans home and the deal has been negotiated now, and we're gonna see where it takes us.”
-ABC News’ Molly Nagle
Biden, Netanyahu to speak Sunday, US official says
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plan to speak Sunday in their first call since Biden delivered his strongest rebuke yet of Israel's military operations in Gaza, a U.S. official confirmed to ABC News.
Biden called the Israeli forces' actions "over the top." When asked about Biden's remark in a Sunday interview with ABC's "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl, Netanyahu said, "I don't know exactly what he [Biden] meant by that, but put yourself in Israel's shoes. We were attacked. … I think we've responded in a way that goes after the terrorists and tries to minimize the civilian population.”
-ABC News’ Fritz Farrow